Claiming to be a victim of Domestic Violence is now a passport to getting Legal Aid in Family Court proceedings, and for obtaining indefinite leave to remain in UK when threatened with deportation. With such incentives to make false allegations, it can be difficult to guage the true extent of Domestic Violence. It’s worth looking again at the investigation which Tim Harford’s BBC Radio 4 “More or Less” programme carried out in 2009:
EXTRACT FROM RADIO BROADCAST
“Domestic Violence is the leading cause of mortality among women aged 15 – 44″ Where did this statistic come from? Since the Home Office confidently asserted it in the Foreward to their 2005 document “Domestic Violence, a National Review” we asked them where they got it from. They gave us a statement in which they said: “The statistic was used for illustrative purposes.” Now, there’s some fine print for you!
They also pointed us to the World Bank’s World Development Report for 1993. But even the World Bank’s research shows domestic violence and rape in 6th place as a source of morbidity. So it seems that from the original claim in 1993, there had been multiple bouts of statistical inflation. The 1993 table showed rape and domestic violence as the 6th largest cause of morbidity in women aged 15 – 44, globally. Leaving to one side the difficulties in collecting that statistic, morbidity (ill-health) then mutated into mortality (death), global figures were then used in UK without any mention that they were global figures, rape was dropped from the category without making any adjustments, and the whole lot was booted up the league table from 6th place to 1st place.
Thank goodness for “illustrative purposes.” Otherwise, I’d be worried that a bogus statistic had echoed round the world, copied apparently without question into official reports, news bulletins and policy documents.
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